Mighty-Pronk

[mightylakers]

Jose is up to two homers but has struggled at the plate a little. He is starting to heat up though as he went yard and doubled last game. For Jose and some of these guys its much harder in league at 46 to hit than what he typically sees in travel from 50. We played him once and struck him out three times. Trey twice and mightypronk once and he couldn't hold back on the curve. Each year it seems the pitchers have the upper hand until mid-april and the batters start catching up when it gets a little warmer.

I'm a little puzzled by him struggling against curves from 46ft. From that distance the curve doesn't curve as much as from 50ft let alone 54 ft. Change up on the other hand is more effective with shorter distance IMO.

[Pronk]

I'm a little puzzled by him struggling against curves from 46ft. From that distance the curve doesn't curve as much as from 50ft let alone 54 ft. Change up on the other hand is more effective with shorter distance IMO.

True, but John throws one that looks like a strike and ducks low out of the zone and he can't resist.

[Pronk]

Another homer today, no clips. Mini-Pronk was going to help and was late getting there, the homer was top of first. Two walks after that, so no clips. Game was a yawner as they ran out of good pitching after the first kid went out.

[mightylakers]

Another homer today, no clips. Mini-Pronk was going to help and was late getting there, the homer was top of first. Two walks after that, so no clips. Game was a yawner as they ran out of good pitching after the first kid went out.

When we came in we actually brought the camera. Of course the game already over

[Stealth]

Another homer today, no clips. Mini-Pronk was going to help and was late getting there, the homer was top of first. Two walks after that, so no clips. Game was a yawner as they ran out of good pitching after the first kid went out.

The kids heating up!

[Pronk]

Starting to get back to it, he went 0-3 in a game with Mighty there the other day. Might be nice to tone down some of the movement here, but he really hit well in BP. So many line drives, much better than usual. I don't mind the stride but a better one would be coiling while striding (which would also halt the length if you think about it).

Anyway first one was rockin the wood. He seems to elongate the lead arm a little more if he senses outside?



Also a pulled shot home run type ball with aluminum (the trusty 3-4 year old demarini). Taking forever to get a Combat bat back after the crack so we have to haul this old stick out.

[Stealth]

I could watch him swing all day..........

[Pronk]

I could watch him swing all day..........

If I had to nitpick I'd like to see him combine the coil with the stride like Longoria. Keeps you back a bit better. You run out of string sooner in the form of the back hip getting cocked.

[Pronk]

Update time. Nothing really good to report. Spent the latter part of the week working on no head movement. Apparently we didn't spend enough time. The other team we played threw a really slow lefty as he gave us fits last time when they beat us. Also I cannot seem to teach attack oppo. Rich do you think Deep Tee swings would help? We haven't done those in a long time either.

First at-bat from 3B, I could see a giant head movement as he couldn't stay back on the lefty slow pitcher. Ends up hitting around the ball, a weak grounder to 3B.




2nd at-bat my camera-man missed but he smashed one through the hole. This started a 4th inning rally to break the 0-0 tie, I should say this game was to clinch league title so it was tense. We were playing 2nd place team and in the last 9 days if we went 0-3, and they went 4-0 they'd win league. Two of our three games was against this team so it was critical to win because now we get to play Leo Mullen Cup and Tournament of Champions. So good for mighty to get that thing started. We end up winning 9-0 as the floodgates were opened. Also added tension was the opposing coach created this heated battle for all-stars manager and they ended up selecting me (who didn't lobby at all), so I think he was gunning for us. Too many weapons though.

Third-at-bat: You can see him trying here. See the head not move as much as the first clip, but that back knee still can't get up under him.




Finally 4th at-bat, this fell for a hit because it looked like a homer and the CF was admiring it, instead of getting around and under. Something about balls to the fence...only the really good kids get back reach out feel it and make the grab.

[Teacherman]

I think the overall movement pattern is good. It just lacks upper body resistance at the critical time.

Replace that 'glide' in the middle with 'loading around'.....which is more resistance.....more stretch.....that holds him back.....and he's real close.

[Teacherman]

He can do the same thing he's doing....in a phone booth....if he'll work at it.....and learn just how to apply the resistance.

[Pronk]

Did you think this was a good drill back in the day? Can't recall. What i like is how the femur does NOT drift forward.

[Stealth]

Did you think this was a good drill back in the day? Can't recall. What i like is how the femur does NOT drift forward.

I think it's a great drill, keep that balance on the rear leg as long as you can.

[1chapterahead]

Did you think this was a good drill back in the day? Can't recall. What i like is how the femur does NOT drift forward.

We started working this drill last night. I like the results.

[Pronk]

LL Regular season is over...

http://ellbaseball.org/

17-2 with 200 runs scored. Not a bad two-year run (18-2 last year). Currently 2-0 in year-end tournament. A ton of games coming up. League Semi-Finals Thursday. If we win, ELL Championship is Saturday. Sunday is Leo Mullen cup against champ from the other Encinitas league. Then Monday-Wed-Fri we have our Tournament of Champions pool games. In LL I give a kid a hit if they reach first without a Fielders's choice. I don't score errors basically the field is so small that what is normally something you can recover from on 80 foot bases you simply can't in LL. As of my last stat count the lowest OBP on the team was .402, and the highest just over .900. Mighty 3rd in BA .500, OBP around .600, and tied for 4th in homers with 3. However, he must lead the team in balls put into play for outs (low strikeout count, most outs are mis-hits). So he's not squaring it up consistently. Not much we can do at this point but we did get him to stop barring the lead arm, and loading the hands instead.

With 3 games in 3 days and LL pitch counts Mighty is going to be called on to pitch a lot more as he is our #3/#4 pitcher (depending the day it seems).

I really don't have much input into his throwing and I kind of doubt he wants to hear a whole lot from me at this point, but I'd like to see if there is feedback on the throw here. It seems like to me that his foot gets down early, and the arm never gets that "back behind the ear" look. My older son was like this at this age too and seems to have grown out of it but at 12 if you can't blow some guys away it's tough. His curve is filthy, changeup ok, but since the fastball isn't scary enough, I don't see him pitching in all-stars. The manager of the team is really down on him.

My feeling is as far as bang for the buck, what can we try, that gives a quick return without trying to make wholesale changes in the next week. For my money, I think a tilting action like King Felix would fit his pattern. This might also allow the stride to extend a little more.